What if instead of letting the methane go into the atmosphere where it causes harm, what if you capture it and use it as fuel, lessening our dependence on fossil fuels (methane is natural gas for those of you that didn't take o-chem)? I'm imagining a sci-fi like device with a tube that is inserted into one of the cow's stomachs that draws off the methane gas into a balloon on the side of the cow.

It brings a little tear to the eye to see that the dream has become a reality.

Update: Now with video. Still not clear to me how it connects to their stomach.

Update #2:This article has a picture of how the tube attaches to the cow.

Also, they state that a cow gives off 28-35 (lets call it 33) cubic feet of methane a day, or 1,000 cubic feet a month. The EIA put the commercial price of 1,000 cubic feet at $12.45 in April of 2008. At that price, you could capture $150 of methane per cow per year.

I was tempted to bring the story (and especially the picture) to your attention but thought the joy of serendipitous discovery would make it all the sweeter.As to cows intelligence, I believe the one in the photo is smart enough to register bovine bewilderment..Do you have the drawings that accompanied the patent for that contraption?

Well, they actually use a real euphemism in the article. The "abattoir effluent" that they are making into biofuel is bio waste from slaughterhouses. So instead of power from Cow Farts, it's power from Cow Parts.